Every manufacturer that performs aftermarket service has one goal in mind: to prevent asset downtime and maximise equipment usage for their customers. So, what do the top 20% of firms do differently to the other 80%?

Whether they call it Industry 4.0 or “smart” manufacturing, experts worldwide are focused on how to extract data from intelligent machines and then analyse it to improve both their products and the processes used to create them.

Workers are the biggest assets in the evolving manufacturing industry. Today’s employees expect contemporary work environments and to be managed differently than they were in the modern era of manufacturing that began in the 1920s, according to Gallup research. So, how can the industry create a modern manufacturing workplace in today’s digital age?

After a tour of its recently opened Technology Centre in Birmingham, Jonny Williamson took part in a media roundtable with Autodesk's CEO Andrew Anagnost to discuss the future of design and manufacture, and where Autodesk fits into the new emerging ecosystem.